Break for Berlin

This is just a quick post today, to share some pictures from my recent trip to Berlin. After an excellent two weeks in the US (stay tuned for a future post!), I had a weekend trip to Berlin to see my brother, who was there for a conference.

On Saturday, we went to Sanssouci, one of E and my favorite spots in the world. Here's my brother (let's call him A) in front of the big fountain.

We also walked up to the Orangerie at Sanssouci. There was a small chamber ensemble playing classical music here, which definitely added to the overall highly classy feel.

We spent Sunday morning walking through the Tiergarten and through downtown Berlin. At one point, we happened across this very interesting scene. I posted a picture of the Berliner Dom with the Fernsehturm together last year, but I really think it makes for cool pictures and deserves another angle. Thanks to A for encouraging me to pull my camera out for this one!

That's it for now - just a few of my favorite pictures. The Scandinavegan asks me to assure you that she will be back soon with her regularly scheduled food updates, and we'll also get some stuff about our recent trips to Portland and the Bay Area up soon!

Scandinavegan Summer: Rhubarb Runs Riot!

I know that it's September now, and it's getting late for rhubarb--though if you're in the Midwest or Pacific Northwest, maybe you can still have it.  But I can't leave rhubarb out of the picture this summer.  It's so Danish to me!  See, before moving to Denmark I had actually never eaten rhubarb in any form at all.  Here, of course, it's at the farmers' market all spring and summer, and maybe your friends even give you big bunches of it because it's taking over their yards.  So I had to try it.  And since my first try was such a huge win, we've been eating it ever since in ever-evolving forms.

(I'm not putting up the original recipe.  My first rhubarb vehicle was a strawberry-rhubarb crisp, and it's true that it's delicious and tastes like the essence of summer.  But come on, it's a crisp!  You put the fruit in the pan with some sugar, and then crumble stuff on top!  Who needs a recipe for that?  Also, I'm vain and don't have a photo of it).

We have now had rhubarb crisp, rhubarb coffee cake, rhubarb bar cookies, and rhubarb muffins.  Here's one of the muffin recipes--the very one, in fact, I chose for my probably-the-last-of-the-season bunch of rhubarb.

Raspberry Rhubarb Corn Muffins

1 1/2 cups cornmeal/polenta
1 1/2 cups flour (I like whole grain spelt, but whole wheat or white flour work too!)
dash salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar
3/4 cup applesauce
about 1 cup rhubarb
about 1 cup raspberries (frozen is just fine)

Preheat the oven to 400 F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin.

Wash the rhubarb really well.  If it's anything like mine, there's a bug in it.  Chop it into half inch long pieces and put it in a bowl.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar and let sit.

Combine the lemon juice and soymilk.  Whisk briefly and let sit.  It will curdle; that's the goal here.

In a big bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, the rest of the sugar, the baking soda, and the salt.  Stir.

Add the applesauce, oil, and vanilla to the soymilk.  Stir well, then fold into the dry ingredients.  Fold in the rhubarb chunks.  Very gently add the raspberries.

Fill the muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.

Scandinavegan Summer: Mushroom Eating!

B and I were just in the US last week, where we admired the juicy tomatoes and peaches and corn that abound on the West Coast.  We both felt like those were real summer foods.  So we went to farmers' markets and the Berkeley Bowl and the Monterey Market and ate absolutely tons. 

Sadly, those aren't really things that the Scandinavian summer specializes in, but we're not too sad, because there are a lot of other interesting and tasty things around here.   The Scandinavegan will be presenting the best of the Danish summer, foodwise, and how to eat it.  Stay tuned!

Today we're starting with mushrooms, since last time we wrote about mushroom hunting.  Now you're probably loaded up with chanterelles, something like this, right?

Well, if you're anything like us, you have a much smaller basket of mushrooms, which is perfect for today's recipe: Woodsy Chanterelles on Toast!

(I like to say "on toast," but the truth is, we never actually toast the bread.  One could, though).

ca. 100 g of chanterelles, washed carefully and sliced
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
woodsy herb of choice; ie sage, thyme, or lavender
salt and pepper
a pinch of flour
sturdy crusty bread (sourdough is always nice)

Start off with a good slosh of olive oil in your skillet.  You could use butter, if you roll that way, I suppose.  When it's hot, begin sauteing the garlic; then, carefully and gently add the mushrooms.  Sprinkle them with salt so they release their juices.  Crumble in your herb of choice, just until it smells good.  Now gently use a wooden spoon to separate the veggies from some of the oil and juice.  Imagine the skillet divided in two; one side mushrooms, one side sauce.  Whisk in the flour--probably about a teaspoon will be plenty.  Whisk really well so there are no lumps, then gently fold in the mushrooms again.  Season to taste and serve with the good bread.  Delicious!

Mushroom Hunting

Last weekend, our friends Danish L and K invited us to join them at one of their favorite mushroom-hunting spots, Nordre Feldborg plantation.We were obviously stoked (but not dangerously so) to join. So, we piled into the car and drove most of the way across the country (in an hour and a half). To here:

 We got our mushroom knives and basket, and the search was on!

 We found this. Not super-edible, but still super cool! It's a plasmodial slime mold, which if you've ever taken intro bio at Berkeley, you've looked at under a microscope. Also, the Danish name for it is awesome: troll butter (troldsmør).  

 Then we found this! An imposter. But still cool looking!

 Finally, we found a bunch of these! Success at last. We took them home, cooked them up for dinner, and totally didn't die!

Sure It Looks Good Now...

Today has been a beautiful day in Denmark.  Sunny (mostly... well, some of the time anyway) and warm--a high of 21 C!

We went to the forest and the beach.  There were a non-zero number of naked Danes at the beach.  This was not a surprise.  Today pretty much marked the epic high of summer weather that any Dane would hope for.

That's OK with me; I've adjusted enough to know that if it's nice, we just have to go for it!  And if it's not, it is perfectly acceptable to gripe.  Danes love to complain about their terrible weather.  It's like a national joke.

Here, in fact, is a recent cartoon by the Danish duo Wulffmorgenthaler.  It appeared this week in the newspaper Politiken.  Wulffmorgenthaler sometimes write in English; sometimes in Danish--I almost always think they're hilarious.  So, here's what they have to say about Scandinavia this week.

And while we're talking about pork, the Scandinavegan will be back soon with news on the best vegan eats in Copenhagen!  So stay tuned!

The Sun Also... Just Stays Up?

Today is the longest day of the year, and in Denmark we're pretty serious about that.  If you look up Aarhus on Weather Underground, you'll see that not only do we have 19 hours and 47 minutes of visible light, but that the sun will neither rise nor set.  It will apparently just sort of chill somewhere close to, but not actually below the horizon.  Maybe you're having a hard time imagining what that's like.  It means that if you go to bed at any sort of normal time, it's not full dark yet, and even if you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, it's already light again.

Danes like to celebrate not on the actual Solstice, but a couple days later, on June 23rd.  That's Sankt Hans' Aften, where you go out and build a bonfire on the beach to keep evil spirits away all year.

Here's our favorite Danish painter, Krøyer, depicting the festivities in Skagen.

This year, though, we're heading down to a different favorite Dane-stination (sorry, I couldn't help myself).  Tivoli!  

They're having special Sankt Hans fires and lights too--and we'll put some pictures up here soon!

But so you can get prepared, you should know that it's also traditional to sing the song "Vi elsker vort land," (meaning "We love our country") at the bonfires.  The verses were originally written by the poet Holger Drachmann--a friend and colleague of Krøyer's--but in the 80s the Danish band Shu-bi-dua made a pop version of the song, which you can hear here.

Finally, just so you know, you can predict the future weather based on Sankthansaften weather.  If it rains, for instance, it will keep raining for six more weeks.  And if it rains a lot, the hazelnuts won't grow big at all!  That would be a tragedy, so keep your fingers crossed for a brilliantly sunny (and virtually sunset-less) day here in Denmark.  Happy Sankt Hans to you all!

A Daring Adventure for Three!

If you read the title, you've probably guessed-- we're having a baby!  The Daring Duo will be joined by one small female adventurer in October.  Needless to say, we're very excited.